Never My Love
by DragonRose18
Summary: A sequel to 'Hold Me Close'. John watches as his his best friend dances with Molly Hooper, both of them looking stunning, him, in his tuxedo and her, in her wedding dress.


_I know I said that this was going to be a one shot but then I got an idea and I couldn't help myself. hehehe. This story is dedicated to my beta readers, 'editors' and friends, khosla and babavaniteshwar. Enjoy!_

Hold Me Close: Chapter 2

John still wasn't sure what had happened. It had been five years since Sherlock had 'jumped' and two years since he had risen from the dead and John was still confused. He looked at the pair dancing slowly to the music, what was the song? Hold me close? Yes, that was it.

Sherlock as always cut a dashing figure and had even worn a bow tie for the happy occasion, but Molly…by god, it was Molly who had left him stunned. She looked gorgeous and he didn't care that he sounded cliché when he said that she seemed to be glowing. The white dress was so flattering on her, the fabric clung to at all the right places and she had never looked better.

John had noticed the change in Sherlock and Molly's dynamic a few weeks after Sherlock and he had resumed their usual 'activities', i.e. running around London and solving crimes. They had been in St. Bart's pathology lab (as usual) and Sherlock and Molly had been bickering as usual when John realized something.

He had realized that Sherlock and Molly _did not banter_ and definitely not a regular basis. Sherlock would be mean to Molly and then Molly would stutter at him and John would have to step in and stop Sherlock. After that, things had become even weirder because Sherlock was being nice to Molly, well as nice as he could be; this was Sherlock Holmes they were talking about. That man lived to humiliate people.

John's train of thought was broken when he realized that someone was calling his name. "Hey Greg, enjoying yourself?" John asked the man whom he had now come to count among his closest friends. Greg nodded his head in a non-committal manner. "As much as you can at these things, but they're our friends and it's an open bar. Plus, there is no way in hell I was going to miss this," he said, nodding towards the still dancing duo.

Greg and John stared as Sherlock unsuccessfully tried to hide a smile at something that Molly was saying. What was even stranger was that Sherlock was still dancing and actually seemed to be enjoying himself. "How the hell does something like this even happen? I didn't know Sherlock even knew how to dance," Greg's voice was full of wonder.

John snorted. "I've lived with Sherlock for years and I didn't even know that this was his type of thing. He always maintained that weddings were dull, boring, and needless and that weddings are just an occasion for people to show off and give each other false compliments," John spoke as he gestured towards the wedding cake and the flowers and the guests that were milling about.

"So were you there when…" Greg gestured towards Sherlock and Molly.

"Yeah, you can imagine my surprise. I knew something had changed between them and Sherlock never gave me a straight answer, but I had never expected _this_."

He didn't pay attention as Greg said something about seeing someone he recognized and left, his thoughts turning to a day six months ago.

John wasn't going to forget that day in a hurry. Molly had come bouncing into 221B. She didn't even bother to knock; she was too regular a guest to bother with that sort of formality anymore. John enjoyed her company more, now that she had stopped being nervous around Sherlock and he actually kind of liked her slightly morbid sense of humor. He liked her even more when she started calling out Sherlock on his bullshit. It was fun to see them argue and Molly even won an argument now and then. She also threatened him sometimes, apparently there was 'something' that Sherlock didn't want known and Molly used it against him whenever he was being particularly annoying. Sherlock's reaction was always amusing, he would go red in the face and start spluttering and stalk out of the room. The irritating part was that John still didn't know what that something was and whenever he had tried to ask Molly, she just smiled and waved him off.

Anyway, John had been in the living room typing out his latest blog entry, and Sherlock had been yelling at the television (one decision he regretted even more than the cluedo was introducing Sherlock to trash television) when Molly had come in nearly quivering with excitement and nervousness. She had not even registered John's presence and just turned towards Sherlock.

Sherlock looked at Molly and opened his mouth to deduce her, when Molly spoke up. "I know you know. You always know but before you say anything I just wanted to ask you. Will you…will you give me away? At my wedding. Brandon proposed and traditionally a male member of the family is supposed to." She was speaking very fast now, getting out all her words before Sherlock spoke up. "But my dad died many years ago and I don't have any brothers and I am not very close to my cousin Basil, he kind of creeps me out and then there is that thing about his eating habits." She gave a nervous laugh and looked at Sherlock with hopeful eyes. "So…will you do this? For me? There is no one else I'd rather give me away."

Silence. This was the first time John had seen Sherlock absolutely speechless. He seemed to be having difficulty in processing what Molly had just said. John took pity on his friend and cleared throat, gaining Molly's attention. "John! Sorry, I didn't see you. I was so intent on this. Sorry."

"Yes…of course, that's fine. So Brandon proposed. Congratulations." At Brandon's name, Molly beamed, she had been seeing him for nearly a year. John was delighted for Molly, Brandon was a good man and it was good to see that Molly was moving on. John hugged Molly, albeit a little awkwardly.

"Yes." John and Molly jumped at the sound of his voice and looked to where Sherlock sat still looking a bit dazed. "Yes, I will…do that," Sherlock cleared his throat, "I would be honored." He then leaned in and kissed Molly on the forehead and stiffly walked away from the room, emotion made him uncomfortable.

John would never forget the delight he had seen on Molly's face that day, like the entire world had been handed to her in a platter. Nor would he forget the dirty look Sherlock had given Molly when she had asked what song he would like to dance on with her. Instead of refusing to dance, like John had expected he would, Sherlock had said you know which one and stomped off, leaving John confused and Molly amused and delighted at the same time. At least now he knew that it was this song that meant something to them, now he just had to figure out why.

But most of all he would not forget how perfect they had looked as Molly walked down the aisle on Sherlock's arm looking as if all her dreams had come true and Sherlock had looked oddly proud, like he was trying to hide it and wasn't quite succeeding. He had refrained from teasing Sherlock mercilessly about his father-of-the-bride-esque duties lest he changed his mind but now there was nothing to stop him.

He watched as Brandon approached Molly and Sherlock when the song got over. Sherlock shook Brandon's hand, managed a smile, kissed Molly on the cheek and started walking in John's direction. When Sherlock reached him, John raised an eyebrow at Sherlock.

"What?" he asked, a touch defensively.

"What you did," John nodded towards Molly and Brandon, "was good."

Sherlock acknowledged the compliment with a slight nod of his head and said only one sentence that would inform John Watson that Sherlock held Molly in high regard.

"Molly Hooper is a friend." Saying this Sherlock walked away, because he was Sherlock Holmes and sentiment wasn't for him; his actions and words betraying him.

_Sorry! I couldn't help myself. I hope you still enjoyed it though. Please leave tons of reviews_


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